Jana Oliver's comments on life, the universe & why writing is such an addiction.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Deadline? What Deadline?

It's been a fun few weeks as I come off the high of finishing Madman's Dance. As I immerse myself completely in a book, it's also a lot like coming off a drug. Withdrawal is always ugly. So to get myself out of deadline mode and into real life, I took a trip to Kentucky.

Bowling Green is home to Western Kentucky University. There an author friend of mine, Dr. Sandra Wales, teaches a Creative Writing class. Given her background in the publishing world, these kids get a dose of reality. So I popped up to teach a class on Genre Fiction and whether it's truly formulaic or not. It was fun. They asked all sorts of probing questions and I had a blast. That night I conducted a reading courtesy of the university, and was surprised to have about twenty people there, especially since Obama and McCain were due to have Debate #2 later in the evening and it was raining. Lots more probing questions, which I enjoyed.

Usually I bitch up a storm about I-75 (which heads north out of Atlanta to Chattanooga). It's always jammed bumper to bumper and is my least favorite route out of the city. Not now. The gas prices have truly cut down on the amount of traffic and I found it a joy to make the trip up in the sunny weather.

The trip home wasn't that much fun as it was raining. Now KY sorely needed the rain (and so did Atlanta) but what was supposed to be a 5-1/2 hour trip went an additional 2 hours. Wisely I bailed off Interstate 75 as soon as I reached Atlanta and took one of the state highways. I got lucky as the heaviest rain hit after I'd taken that route. I wouldn't have been able to see a thing on the interstate.

The rest of the time has been spent mucking out the house and doing a lot of vegging. I've managed to watch the entire first season of The Tudors. I was a history major way back when and I spent a lot of time studying Tudor and Elizabethan England. The show did a pretty good job, though they mucked around with characters and events quite a bit. I'm not used to see that much sex in a TV series, however, but that just shows I don't watch much TV. Though sometimes the sex seemed a bit gratuitous, it wasn't over the top and certainly would fit into the one track mind of the times. Eat, drink, fornicate. Oh, and try to get the best of those French and Spanish bastards.

I've also been reading like a fiend. I'll talk more about one particular book (The Ghost Map) in another post because the book had some interesting insights about our time vs. 1854.

Starting to gear up for my trip to Calgary and World Fantasy. I'll finally get to meet my publisher, Gwen Gades, and launch the new book into the world, and get into some mischief with my roomie, Jean Marie Ward. She is always known for mischief. I'll be sure to do a full post on the con when I return. Not taking my computer this time. This would be the computer that contains detailed info on Irish anarchists, gunpowder and nitroglycerin manufacturing, the layout of London's Docklands, etc. Until our 4th Amendment Rights (see below) are back on track, I have no desire for Customs to go through that puppy. I suppose I could just hand them a copy of Madman's Dance. Or better yet, show them the copy of the Constitution on my iPhone. Yeah, I know. Then they'd have to read it.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.